Learn a Poem With Your Child
You may have been to the library four times this summer. You still read with your child every night, and he does some independent reading, so you’re fine, but you want to shake things up and challenge them. Here’s an idea: Learn a poem together.
Memorizing and reciting poetry aloud is a great introduction to public speaking, it builds language skills and self-confidence, which is something that they will carry with them in life, writes language teacher Erin Medeiros for Edutopia :
The poems contain riddles and complexities that unfold slowly over time, and sometimes even suddenly. I often rehearse the poems I’ve learned to myself and am surprised at their subtle surprises years after I first encountered them.
Plus, it can be a fun bonding experience. There is a book called The Donut Chef that I often read to my son. It has a beautiful cadence and reads like a rhyming poem. Years later, whenever one of us eats a glazed donut, we cannot help but recite the ending, which has become an inner joke for us: “Donut chef, he never guessed; Of all the flavors he tested, most people love frosting the most. ”
You can start with a book of poetry (you can’t go wrong with Shel Silverstein’s Where The Sidewalk Ends ; Sick was one of my favorite childhood poems) or find a poem together on the Internet that you both love. At Poetry4Kids.com you can search for poetry by topic or class, classic or funny. (May I suggest Kenn Nesbitt’s ” I Think My Dad Is Dracula “?) Poets.org also has a whole section for kids , just like the Poetry Foundation .
Once you both have learned it by heart, perform your poem for friends and family. And then, if your child is not feeling very literary, advise him to try writing something of his own .